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Hyperopia or Farsightedness occurs when the cornea is too flat in relationship to the length of the eye, which is shorter than normal. Hyperopia is a refractive error, which causes light to become focused at a point below the retina. Patients with farsightedness may still see clearly in the distance because they are able to focus the lens inside their eye to compensate. This ability to compensate diminishes with age, and farsighted individuals develop progressive difficulty with both reading and distance vision.
  

Near objects look blurry to farsighted people

Farsighted people experience blurry near vision because light rays entering the eye focus behind the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eye, rather than directly on the retina. This happens because the eyeball of a hyperopic person is shorter than normal. Many children are born with farsightedness, which may slowly disappear as the child grows and the eyeball lengthens. However, not all children outgrow their hyperopia.

By the way, presbyopia is also a difficulty in seeing up close, but it is different from hyperopia. Presbyopia is caused by stiffening of the crystalline lens in the eye, due to aging. The less elastic lens cannot focus as well as it once could, so reading becomes difficult. It happens to everyone at some point, usually sometime after age 40.

 

Hyperopics may complain of:

  • headaches
  • eyestrain
  • squinting
  • fatigue when reading, sewing, working on a computer
  • performing other work in close range.
If you experience these symptoms while wearing your glasses or contact lenses, you may need a comprehensive eye examination as well as a new prescription.


As with nearsightedness and astigmatism, this refractive error can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses, which change the way light rays bend into the eyes. If your glasses or contact lens prescription begins with plus numbers, like +2.50, you are farsighted. You may need to wear your vision correction all the time, or only when performing close work.

From your eyecare practitioner's viewpoint, hyperopia is a condition in which your eye is under powered. Correction requires a "plus" lens containing additional optical power to permit sharp vision of near objects.

How a spherical lens corrects hyperopia
The shape of a hyperopic eye focuses images behind the retina, producing blurred vision of near objects.
By increasing the cornea's focusing power, a spherical contact lens corrects the refractive error, creating a single focal point on the retina where vision is sharpest.

 

Refractive surgery is another option for correcting hyperopia, and it may reduce or eliminate your need to wear glasses or contact lenses. The latest method of refractive surgery, LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) recently received FDA approval for farsightedness correction. LASIK, which accounts for more than 80 percent of laser vision correction procedures, was previously approved for myopia, or nearsightedness, correction only. PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) and RK (radial keratotomy) are other refractive surgery procedures.

For more information of Hyperopia and its correction:

 

Source(s): All above information & images are based on: an article written by Gretchyn Bailey allaboutvision.com and an article at www.alphavista.com and self created images. All rights reserved by respective owners.

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Disclaimer: Any information displayed here is just for educational purposes, and may not be taken as an expert advice and should not be applied in life without consulting your eye doctor/specialist. We here by take no responsiblity of the accuracy of the above content as they have been taken from various sources.

Did you know ?

One out of every four children has an undetected vision problem that may impede learning.

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Hyperopia